The present invention relates generally to door locks.
It has been known generally heretofore to provide locking mechanisms with reciprocably mounted bolts which are operable by in-line solenoids. Such arrangements are shown in the U.S. Pat. of H. K. Price, No. 3,166,144, dated Jan. 19, 1965, and in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,086, dated Aug. 7, 1973 and No. 3,872,696, dated Mar. 25, 1975.
Such in-line arrangements are not adapted for use in lock installations, in which the lock is to be mounted, for example, in a conventional narrow door stile or frame member, wherein the depth limitation is insufficient to receive the in-line mounted bolt and rearwardly mounted solenoid.
In its broad concept, the present invention overcomes the foregoing problem by providing an electric lock unit of unique configuration, which may be readily mounted in either a horizontally or vertically extending narrow door stile or frame member. This is made possible by changing the solenoid from an in-line position with respect to the lock bolt to a position in which the operating axis of the solenoid is in right-angled relation to the bolt operating axis. Thus, the depth dimension of the lock structure is minimized to the extent that it may be readily accommodated by a narrow door stile or frame member.